science, sound, and music
Instructor: To Be Announced
Department: To Be Announced
Course Number: FSEM 100C9
CRN: 12721
Required Text:
The Physics of Music and Musical Instruments Created by David Lapp, Wright Fellow, 2002-03 Found online at www.tufts.edu/as/wright_center/workshops/workshop_archives/physics_2003_wkshp/book.htm or just search for “The physics of Music and Musical Instruments” +Lapp
You may read it online or print yourself a black and white or color copy.
Other relevant and possibly useful texts and primary literature will be on reserve in the library and/or can be borrowed from my personal collection. Please see the list at the end of the syllabus.
Course Description:
This course examines the science of sound and music, exploring ideas including how sound is produced and perceived, the creation and interpretation of music and how musical instruments work. Throughout the semester, you will be examining these concepts from a scientific and aesthetic perspective integrating your own personal experiences with ideas from several disciplines including, physics, music and psychology. You will also learn how to find and use primary literature and sources to help broaden your understanding of a topic. Class time will include interactive lectures, demonstrations, laboratory activities and student-lead discussion. Assignments will include individual and group work, and are meant to not only asses your learning, but to foster the ability to design, research and present both written and oral ideas.
Expectations:
I expect you to engage the material, your peers and me both in and out of class in class related conversations. Some math will be required in this course involving mainly plugging numerical values into a given equation. I don’t expect you to love math, but I expect you to try. At anytime during the course, when problems arise I expect you to seek assistance.
Goals:
I hope to expand your knowledge of science and how it relates to sound and music, further develop your conceptual and critical thinking skills and enable you to apply these ideas to real life situations. I also hope that you find at least one concept or application that excites or intrigues you and that by the end of the course, you will be better prepared to research, discuss and present ideas and concepts.
Attendance:
The success of this course relies heavily on class attendance and participation. Repeated absences from class will not only lower your participation portion of your grade, but may also affect your ability to complete assignments, since they will be related to what is covered during class. You will be held responsible for all course materials missed due to class absences. Please notify me PRIOR to class or deadline, by phone or email if you will be unable to attend class or turn in assignments because of an emergency or catastrophe.
Grading:
Your course grade is based on your individual work (35%), group work (25%),class participation/interaction (15%) and final project (25%).
Course Content:
The course is roughly divided into four parts.
Part I. Science
What it is, what it isn’t and the scientific method. This will involve an individual assignment to explore how different people and groups define science and a group project exploring the number of circles that can be observed on campus walk. We’ll also spend a day at the library to learn what resources are available for research.
Part II: Sound and Musical Instruments
Exploring how it is defined physically and psychophysically, the idea of pitch and intervals and how wind and string instruments work. This will include an individual assignment to help generate a dictionary of useful terms, an experiment involving resonances in a closed pipe, and a group project building instruments.
Part III: Music and Room Acoustics
How we interpret music and the effect of room conditions on what we hear. This will include an individual oral presentation describing and interpreting a piece of music both aesthetically and scientifically and a group project exploring different acoustics found in campus buildings.
Part IV: Your Own Musical Instrument
Bring it all together by designing, building and performing a musical instrument. This will be an individual and group project, with a written and oral presentation about said instrument and a public performance with the class.
Please see the following website for an idea of what the performance will be like. http://www.juniata.edu/magazine/?p=16
The content found above is tentative and changes and additions may occur as the course evolves.